Flying N2PZ to the Paint Shop - Page 144.

July 5, 2005:  This morning had to be the shortest flight I have made with the airplane.  It is about three statute miles from the grass strip where I keep the airplane to the Wilson grass strip that is the paint shop location.  You can find Wilson on the Atlanta Sectional under the 10-mile ring around the Chattanooga Class C airspace.  It is located almost exactly due South of KCHA.   Painter Bill Pinion and I started by referring to my artwork and my original photos of a 1966 Piper Comanche B to start laying out the stripes down the side of the airplane.   The two strings you see below are 2.5" apart at the front of the cowl and about half way down the side of the fuselage.  There is a 3/8" gap between the strings and the gold color that will be above and below the metallic blue stripe down the side.  The Pearl White color will separate the blue and gold colors and is the base color for the bottom of the fuselage, aft upper skin of the fuselage, the wings and tail.    And yes, that is my Pearl White Cadillac you see parked behind the airplane at the front of the hangar.  The spinner and the entire top of the cowl and the skin in front of the windshield will be metallic gold.

Going down the side, the air vent will have the top edge of the blue stripe cut through the mid-point of the scoop.  The 3/8" wide gap between the blue and gold will show the  white base coat, and the GOLD will start at the bottom edge of the top piece of painter's tape and go across the forward top skin and the fiberglass around the windshield.  The three strips of painter's tape below the vent represent the width of the gold trim area below the 2.5" wide stripe running along the side of the fuselage.   The word "ENTERPRISE" will be in 2-inch high block letters starting just AFT of the air vent scoop.  I have decided NOT to try to put any lettering across the seam of the upper and lower cowl sections.

Here is view below the canopy.  The 2.5-inch main blue accent stripe begins a gradual taper at the seat-back bulkhead which is near the center of this photo.   Everything below the plexiglass is GOLD above the center blue stripe.  There is a 3/4" white stripe that is where the single piece of painter's tape lines up with the plexiglass lower edge and heads aft toward the horizontal stabilizer.  The area above and below that stripe will be GOLD.  The thin blue painter's tape shows the location of a blue trim stripe above all the gold areas.  Everything above that point across the upper aft skin will be the Pearl White base coat.

The 12-inch high registration numbers will go along the side starting at the overlap joint of the side skins and continue about 44 inches aft along the lower aft side skin below the main blue trim stripe.

At the empennage, we make some changes to the original Comanche paint scheme.   The stripes and gold accent color details will have to be seen when they are completed.  Bill and I know what will be happening back here, but you will just have to be patient for about two weeks to see how it all comes out.  That "circle of stars" logo will actually be on the OTHER side of the vertical stabilizer and rudder.   I printed it up this morning using my laser printer on eight sheets of legal paper.   I wanted to see how well a 24-inch-sized logo would look for the tail art.   The "triangle" is blue with the white stars showing through.  The circle is gold with the Pearl White showing through insde the circle.  This side of the vertical stablizer and rudder will get the "triangle" from paint scheme number ONE from my home page.  It will also be in the 24-inch size.

This area of the rudder will have the blue trim stripe down the side tapering to about 1/2" at the end.  The lower gold trim will come to an end with a width of 3/4".  The "yellow" painter's tape between the blue tapes is the white stripe that started at the plexiglass canopy aft edge and came to an end at the center of the horizontal stabilizer.  We thought we would look at the possibility of bringing it "through" the HS onto the rudder.  The wider blue tape at the top of the group will be the end of the blue trim stripe that starts near the top aft edge of the canopy.

Here is an overview of the entire left side.  There will be a 2-inch wide blue stripe wrapped around the wing between the landing lights and the gold wing tips.   A 2-inch white "gap" will separate the blue stripe from the wing tips.   The remainder of the wings will be the Pearl White base color.

This wide-angle side view gives a better look at the aft fuselage and tail art.

I have TWO more pictures from the first day in the paint shop on PAGE 145.